Celebrity's "Move Up Process" the old way of bidding for an upgrade!!

[Lastdance]

On 9/21/2021 at 5:46 AM, George C said:

My first celebrity cruise we got a complementary upgrade to a aft sky suite about ten years ago on solstice, have booked suites ever since. 

We were offered a CS from an S1 corner aft, but I declined because I love the corner  afts, and the special foyer for quietness.  I met the couple in Luminae that was offered and took the CS.  They were in their early 80's and such a sweet couple.  They were thrilled to death about their free upgrade; I was too, as they so deserved it!  I love the wake onboard, so will be there as long as I can enjoy the walk!  But I firmly believe those "free upgrades" are just miracles nowadays with the MoveUp program.  

Edited October 2, 2021 by Lastdance

[SNJCruisers]

Had to laugh.   I just entered my information to see if I was eligible and of course I did my research to find out was was still available in the category I wanted.  We are booked on a seven day Apex cruise on January 8 in a HC IV cabin.  A few months ago, I booked the 5 day January 3 cruise in a HC inside cabin.  There are no HC cabins left on our January 8 cruise, but there are 5 HC IV cabins left on the January 3 cruise that we could possible upgrade to.  Looking at the website, the price was 995 more for the two of us if we were to pay to upgrade.

When I looked at the upgrade options, they offered us 6 different cabin choices from OV to Aqua Class.  They should have only offered us 1 choice.  HC IV.  The offer process totally ignored the fact that our current reservation, which I had to enter to qualify, was in a HC cabin and someone may have been bumped out of their HC cabin and placed in an upgraded non HC cabin which would have done them no good.

The biggest joke is that the minimum bid for the upgrade to the IV cabin was 450 pp or 900 in total, which would have been a whopping savings of 95 bucks for the two of us.

[deliver42]

Celevrity doesn't do the bidding process. It's done by a 3rd party, same as MSC and Royal and NCL.

[RummyB]

I just got my offer to "Move Up" and I have some questions.  So, say I'm currently in a Concierge C2 cabin and paid $4k for my cruise.  Minimum bid to upgrade to an S1 is $200pp.  So let's say someone who purchased an inside cabin for $1500 also gets a Move Up offer.  Is his/her minimum bid for an S1 suite also $200?  If they bid $1000 (rather than my minimum $200), then Celebrity would potentially  only get an additional $400 total from me, and potentially an additional $3000 from the inside cabin bidder.   Seems a no-brainer that the $3000 bid would win, but he would still be paying less for the suite than I paid for Concierge.

 

Am I missing something?

[pisces223]

We just received an email about bidding for an upgrade. We are currently in a 2B Veranda and it includes lots of perks (Wonderfull rate) including pre-paid gratuities. If our bid is accepted and we can get an Aqua class room, do we have to pay the gratuities in addition to the bid or are they pre-paid from the Wonderfull promotion? Thanks in advance!

[wrk2cruise]

You would keep all your existing perks including the included gratuities for the 2B category.  The T&C say you will be charged the difference between the balcony gratuities and Aqua which is something like $1 pp/pd.   Many say they were never charged the difference.

[Bo1953]

On 12/13/2021 at 4:41 AM, SNJCruisers said:

Had to laugh.   I just entered my information to see if I was eligible and of course I did my research to find out was was still available in the category I wanted.  We are booked on a seven day Apex cruise on January 8 in a HC IV cabin.  A few months ago, I booked the 5 day January 3 cruise in a HC inside cabin.  There are no HC cabins left on our January 8 cruise, but there are 5 HC IV cabins left on the January 3 cruise that we could possible upgrade to.  Looking at the website, the price was 995 more for the two of us if we were to pay to upgrade.

When I looked at the upgrade options, they offered us 6 different cabin choices from OV to Aqua Class.  They should have only offered us 1 choice.  HC IV.  The offer process totally ignored the fact that our current reservation, which I had to enter to qualify, was in a HC cabin and someone may have been bumped out of their HC cabin and placed in an upgraded non HC cabin which would have done them no good.

The biggest joke is that the minimum bid for the upgrade to the IV cabin was 450 pp or 900 in total, which would have been a whopping savings of 95 bucks for the two of us.

That would have proffered two (2) situations to consider:

 

1) a call to X to advise of your situation and determine if HC's are accommodated in each category; and/or;

 

2) skip the upgrade as it appears that you have.

 

For some passengers, $95 is a big deal... LOL

 

bon voyage

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

That would have proffered two (2) situations to consider:

 

1) a call to X to advise of your situation and determine if HC's are accommodated in each category; and/or;

 

2) skip the upgrade as it appears that you have.

 

For some passengers, $95 is a big deal... LOL

 

bon voyage

Lucked out big time.  Because of the number of people on board they ended up giving us a free upgrade from inside HC to IV HC on the 5 day sailing.  Worked out great for us. 

[akronmaid]

So if I bid $1700 pp to upgrade to a Royal Suite, I don't get the perks of the Retreat, internet, laundry, Lumiere, butler etc.?

 

 

[fun4us2]

Yes, you get the Retreat, Luminae etc. you just do not get the extra points, you get the points from your original booking. 

[mfs2k]

On 3/6/2022 at 10:05 PM, RummyB said:

I just got my offer to "Move Up" and I have some questions.  So, say I'm currently in a Concierge C2 cabin and paid $4k for my cruise.  Minimum bid to upgrade to an S1 is $200pp.  So let's say someone who purchased an inside cabin for $1500 also gets a Move Up offer.  Is his/her minimum bid for an S1 suite also $200?  If they bid $1000 (rather than my minimum $200), then Celebrity would potentially  only get an additional $400 total from me, and potentially an additional $3000 from the inside cabin bidder.   Seems a no-brainer that the $3000 bid would win, but he would still be paying less for the suite than I paid for Concierge.

 

Am I missing something?

At the time of bidding, it no longer matters what you originally paid vs what someone else paid. That's done and over.  

 

What matters at bidding is how much overall additional income the cruise line will collect from the bidding process. 

Keep in mind someone is also bidding for your C2 cabin even though you haven't decided yet to move up to the S1 cabin you may bid on.  

It's complicated math, and it's a rolling acceptance process from when bidding starts to when the last move up offer is accepted.  There isn't one person sitting at a desk choosing "accept" or "reject".  This is done by computers with pretty sophisticated algorithms and the more available cabins there are at the end, the more complicated it is. If there are no unsold cabins, there's nothing to move up to. 

The goal for Celebrity is to maximize additional revenue up until the last second. 

[mfs2k]

11 hours ago, akronmaid said:

So if I bid $1700 pp to upgrade to a Royal Suite, I don't get the perks of the Retreat, internet, laundry, Lumiere, butler etc.?

 

 

 

The whole idea of the move up bid is to get additional revenue without any additional expense for the cruise line.  So basically you get access to spaces but not better liquor than you paid for, or tips you didn't already pay for.

 

 

[Maddie38]

11 hours ago, akronmaid said:

So if I bid $1700 pp to upgrade to a Royal Suite, I don't get the perks of the Retreat, internet, laundry, Lumiere, butler etc.?

 

 

If I'm understanding correctly, there are amenities and there are perks - Luminae and the butler are amenities and you would get those, but you wouldn't get additional "perks" like the premium drink package or premium internet ... hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong 🙂

[The_Big_M]

On 3/7/2022 at 2:05 PM, RummyB said:

I just got my offer to "Move Up" and I have some questions.  So, say I'm currently in a Concierge C2 cabin and paid $4k for my cruise.  Minimum bid to upgrade to an S1 is $200pp.  So let's say someone who purchased an inside cabin for $1500 also gets a Move Up offer.  Is his/her minimum bid for an S1 suite also $200?  If they bid $1000 (rather than my minimum $200), then Celebrity would potentially  only get an additional $400 total from me, and potentially an additional $3000 from the inside cabin bidder.   Seems a no-brainer that the $3000 bid would win, but he would still be paying less for the suite than I paid for Concierge.

 

Am I missing something?

 

Yes/No. Two differences from the above. Firstly, only a few grades above your booking are offered, and those in an inside are unlikely to get an off for a suite. It will probably top out for them around CC/AQ. Whereas in CC you will get some suites offered, but not the top ones.

 

Secondly, the minimum price differs depending how far you are away based on your original class. So as CC you may get an AQ min bid of say $200. If the inside has that offered, the upgrade price min will more likely be $1500+ (numbers are just a guide, with lots of variables, not a rule).

[mikewomb]

On 9/11/2021 at 6:10 PM, Pizzasteve said:

I have not received an email and when I try to use the move up page to pull our reservation I just gwt an error message.  Emailed the address in the message, but no reply.  Any Advice?

I have a move up offer for a CS, but when I try and bid on the Royal Suite I get the error message. I have been in contact with the move up department and they are aware of the problem, but no one knows how to fix it.    Also to the folks who started the thread, nothing is free. You booked an inside cabin. Celebrity is an excellent cruise line. Don’t complain..we cruised with them that many years ago and I personally like the new way it is done. We were in South America, boarded the Zenith…I quietly walked up to the front desk…all these people were wanting free upgrades…I ask what the cost would be to upgrade to a suite…the gal said $1000 total, I paid, and thanked her …that was for 2 weeks. Again, be willing to pay..if you want a better cabin. 
 

[Mark_K]

I’m fine with the MoveUp.  I was torn between an Aquaclass GTY and a Sky Suite Gty.  The price differential was $3300 when I booked and I just couldn’t justify it.  Then I made an offer for less than half that amount and got upgraded.  I also got an additional $275 OBC from my TA.

[LGW59]

9 hours ago, mikewomb said:

I have a move up offer for a CS, but when I try and bid on the Royal Suite I get the error message. I have been in contact with the move up department and they are aware of the problem, but no one knows how to fix it.    Also to the folks who started the thread, nothing is free. You booked an inside cabin. Celebrity is an excellent cruise line. Don’t complain..we cruised with them that many years ago and I personally like the new way it is done. We were in South America, boarded the Zenith…I quietly walked up to the front desk…all these people were wanting free upgrades…I ask what the cost would be to upgrade to a suite…the gal said $1000 total, I paid, and thanked her …that was for 2 weeks. Again, be willing to pay..if you want a better cabin. 
 

Good for you on this!  I am on a B3B in Nov/Dec 2022, could not get the same suite for each of the 3 legs, so will have to move a couple time, no biggie at all for us.  We did score an amazing deal on an upper suite when we do the Panama Canal to start the cruise, could not believe my TA was able to get that for us at the price he did, but he did.  Sometimes it pays to NOT be the squeaky wheel, see what is out there, yes please, thank you very much...goes a long way. 

Edited April 7, 2022 by LGW59

[groryjm]

22 hours ago, akronmaid said:

So if I bid $1700 pp to upgrade to a Royal Suite, I don't get the perks of the Retreat, internet, laundry, Lumiere, butler etc.?

 

 

If you get a Royal Suite it comes with Luminae retreat buttler etc. It also includes, as part of the suite, Unlimited Internet for each of you, Unlimited Speciality dinning for each of you, Premium drinks for each of you, Two bottles of spirits in the suite, Mini fridge filled with beer, water and mixers of your choice, a bottler of Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut Champagne, oh and unlimited laundry. A very sweet reason to pay a bit more for an RS 

Edited April 7, 2022 by groryjm

[groryjm]

10 hours ago, Maddie38 said:

If I'm understanding correctly, there are amenities and there are perks - Luminae and the butler are amenities and you would get those, but you wouldn't get additional "perks" like the premium drink package or premium internet ... hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong 🙂

No sorry you are wrong RSs and PHs include premium drinks unlimited internet, unlinmited speciallitys etc as part of the suite. They are not perks but part of the Upper suite package

[Kimmieboobear]

We are booked in a guarantee suite on celebrity Summit. We got an email to upgrade but when I checked online all suites are sold out. Is ut possible to still bid  and get an upgrade to higher then a sky suite. Im confused if suites are booked  

[Mark_K]

3 minutes ago, Kimmieboobear said:

We are booked in a guarantee suite on celebrity Summit. We got an email to upgrade but when I checked online all suites are sold out. Is ut possible to still bid  and get an upgrade to higher then a sky suite. Im confused if suites are booked  

It couldn’t hurt to bid on it if it sounds appealing to you.  Maybe they’ve held back some cabins or are anticipating cancellations and want to have someone lined up.  

[JohnGaltfrmNYC]

I am on the Edge Transatlantic leaving 4/22/2022 booked in a infinite veranda. I bid on a Sky Suite 2 weeks ago & I am still in the pending stage. Has anyone gotten a response and does anyone have a suggestion how to speed the process to a successful conclusion? Thanks!

[letsgogogo]

On 9/10/2021 at 7:25 PM, WNcruiser said:

Why do people expect to pay the lowest fare for an inside and then want  a cheap price to upgrade? 

Sometimes the inside is all that’s available at booking. This my case. I’m not deliberately looking GeForce a cheap price. I bid the max bid for aqua. 

[Dirk_Pitt]

We are booked in a Concierge Infinite Balcony on the Beyond for Jan 8th.  When I booked the options were $1299 nothing included and they pick the room or $2499 all included they pick the room.  You pick the room is more.  We are Elite so we get the happy hour and discount drink/Internet packages.  Obviously, the cost of all included is not worth the extra $1200 a person.  I went in after booking and was going to prepay Gratuities and they wanted to charge me another $2000, so I backed out and will pay on the ship.

  I was looking at doing the Move up to a Sky Suite or Aqua Sky Suite and bidding about $1000 a piece (Says it was a weak bid).  Reading the terms and conditions says

 

"by upgrading to a higher stateroom category, each guest in the booking may be subject to a higher gratuity amount. The Offer Amount does not include the higher gratuity. If the Offer is accepted, the difference between the originl and upgraded stateroom gratuities (if applicable) will be automatically applied to all guests (the "Additional Charges")."

 

In other words they could have added an amount and charged me without my having an opportunity to say no.  I was concerned by the vast difference the online system wanted to charge for just Gratuities.  

 

In the old Move up system, I do not recall potentially being charged for an amount you don't get to approve first.

 

Likely will call to ask a few question after Xmas and maybe go ahead or stick with our current cabin choice which was a nice deal.  

 

I was wondering if anyone else was in the same situation and what happened with their bid when approved

Edited December 25, 2022 by Dirk_Pitt

[deliver42]

If you're bidding on a suite, and it's accepted, then you have to pay the suite gratuities.